M·E·L Research Partners with Help for Heroes to Develop Supporter Segmentation
M·E·L Research Ltd is proud to announce its collaboration with Help for Heroes on an innovative and wide-ranging research project to develop a new audience segmentation strategy.
Help for Heroes, deeply committed to its mission, recognises the need for a comprehensive understanding of its supporters and potential supporters. While the charity possesses some valuable research data, this research will look beyond existing supporters and provide an attitudinal-behavioural approach to thinking about audiences.
The result of the collaboration with M·E·L Research will be to create a nuanced and future-proof audience segmentation system and long-term strategy that will guide Help for Heroes in tailoring their marketing, communication, and fundraising efforts effectively.
Kate Slater, Head of Data, Insight and Research said:
“This is a really exciting project for Help for Heroes as we focus our strategy on securing meaningful and engaging relationships with our supporters. As we embark on being a more insight-led charity, M·E·L Research provided an approach to support us with bringing our whole team along on the journey, to really understand who our supporters are and what they want from their relationship with us.“
Kate Slater, Head of Data, Insight and Research, Help for Heroes
Key Objectives of the Research Project:
Demographic Profiling: Gain insights into the demographic profile of individuals open to supporting military charities, specifically Help for Heroes.
Attitudes and Motivations: Understand the attitudes and motivations of potential supporters towards charities, the Armed Forces Community, Military Charities, and Help for Heroes, including any barriers to support.
Supporting Charities: Explore the reasons behind supporting charities in general and Help for Heroes specifically, distinguishing between the cause and fundraising activities.
Fundraising Activities: Investigate past fundraising activities and the openness to future activities, identifying reasons for involvement and factors that deter participation.
Supporter Journey: Identify key segments for growth and determine the most effective approaches to engage with them to maximize income. This includes understanding the typical supporter journey and what encourages re-engagement.
Alignment with Existing Database: Ensure that the new segmentation aligns with Help for Heroes’ existing supporter database, providing essential information for further enhancement.
The research process includes a review of existing data and internal knowledge and hypotheses, online community engagement, large-scale market survey, segmentation analysis, profiling and persona depths, and comprehensive reporting. The final outputs will make extensive use of video and audio to ensure that supporter and audiences are really brought to life.
Alignment With Our Values
Speaking about the project, Elliot Simmonds, who is leading the study for M·E·L Research said:
“Help for Heroes is aligned to the work we as an agency do in a number of different ways through the prism of veterans and their families. Physical and mental health, as well as financial, social and welfare needs are key considerations across our entire client base. To be able to support and work with an organisation which is delivering on all of those, every day, for those for whom the battle hasn’t stopped on returning home from conflict is a privilege and a responsibility. We’re looking forward to engaging the wider Help for Heroes team across the project and delivering outputs which are genuinely useful and useable as we move through the research programme.”
About Help for Heroes: Help for Heroes is a UK charity that provides support to veterans and their families. The charity’s mission is to empower wounded, injured, and sick veterans to reach their potential and lead fulfilling lives. Help for Heroes offers a range of services and support to those who have served their country.
M·E·L Research is pleased to welcome four new colleagues to our growing team, strengthening our research and evaluation expertise as we continue to expand our services and support clients.
The appointments of Laura Karban, Associate Director; Bethan Jewsbury, Senior Evaluation Managers; and Chloe Parker, Research Manager, alongside Rhoslyn Davies, who joins us on a short-term basis to provide additional senior evaluation support, bring a wealth of experience across social research, evaluation, public policy…
It was an absolute honour to attend the Women’s Health Conference in London this week, bringing together clinicians, policymakers, campaigners and others passionate about improving women’s health.
As a researcher specialising in women’s health social research, I was excited to have the opportunity to learn, be challenged and exchange ideas with people who share that passion. And I wasn’t disappointed.
There has (quite rightly) been a lot of discussion recently about the gender health gap. But some of the evidence shared…
We are pleased to be working with the MS Society on new health and care social research exploring how health and care services can better support people with multiple sclerosis (MS) and help reduce avoidable hospital admissions.
The health and care social research study will focus on opportunities for earlier intervention and more coordinated, preventative support, while recognising that hospital admission is sometimes clinically necessary. It will…
Last week, I had the opportunity to speak at Collections Inside & Out, a symposium hosted at National Trust Chirk Castle & Garden, bringing together people working across gardens, horticulture, heritage, collections and interpretation.
I was, perhaps, a slight interloper among so many people with deep horticultural expertise but every presentation was incredibly interesting and I learned a lot – and broadly managed to follow the general flow of what was being said (still not 100% au fait with taxa…
We’re pleased to share that our Commercial Director, Elliot Simmonds, will be speaking at the Collections Inside & Out symposium at National Trust Chirk Castle & Garden on 24 September 2026. Bringing together professionals working across heritage collections, gardens and landscapes, the symposium will explore the relationship between indoor and outdoor heritage and the opportunities created by thinking about them as part of a connected visitor experience.
Elliot’s session, “Integrating Indoor…
M·E·L Research has been named the winner of the Award for Outstanding Contribution to Social Value & Ethical Research 2026 at the UK Enterprise Awards.
The award recognises the values that shape both the work we choose to undertake and the way we deliver it. From building trauma-informed practices into our research to improving inclusion and reinvesting in the communities around us, social responsibility is part of how we operate every day.
M·E·L Research joined the British Dyslexia Association (BDA) at the House of Lords this week for the launch of a new report exploring the experiences of dyslexic young people who are not in employment, education or training (NEET).
Tamsin Maries, Senior Research Manager, and Elliot Simmonds, Commercial Manager, represented M·E·L Research at the event…
New UK-wide research from M·E·L Research’s SPARK report shows improving mental health indicators alongside continuing exposure to suicide, widespread lifetime suicidal thoughts and significant gaps in practical knowledge.
Suicide prevention depends on understanding not only how many people are affected, but also how confident the public feel about recognising risk, starting difficult conversations and finding appropriate support. The Spring 2026 SPARK report from M·E·L Research brings these issues together, providing a detailed picture of attitudes…